1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a motorcycle.
2. Description of the Related Art
While the problem of clothing becoming entangled in the rear wheel is not one encountered even in conventional motorcycles, some motorcycles include a sari guard located to the side of the rear wheel in order to prevent the sari from becoming soiled. The sari is a traditional costume worn in India or other countries. The sari is made of a long piece of fabric. When a rider wearing a sari is seated in a tandem seat, the sari hangs down to the side of the rear wheel, and therefore the sari is susceptible to becoming soiled by mud adhering to the rear wheel. The sari guard is provided for the purpose of preventing such soiling of the sari. For example, in the motorcycle disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application 2009-51229, the top portion of a sari guard 115 is secured to a seat rail 103 as shown in FIG. 11 herein. The sari guard 115 is arranged to cover the side of the rear wheel 107.
There is also a need to prevent mud from being splattered rearward by the rear wheel in motorcycles. For this reason, according to the motorcycle disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication 4083402, rearward mud splatter is prevented by a rear fender 135 that is supported on a seat rail 118, as shown in FIG. 12 herein.
Where the sari guard 115 is supported by the seat rail 103 as in the motorcycle disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application 2009-51229, the seat rail 103 increases in size. That is, the seat rail 103 needs to be increased in size in order to improve its support rigidity. For this reason, the increased size of the rear portion of the motorcycle, inclusive of the tandem seat 110, is a concern.
In order to improve the effectiveness of the rear fender 135 in preventing mud splatter, it is preferable for the rear fender 135 to have a shape that extends further rearward as in the motorcycle disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication 4083402. However, increasing the size of the rear fender 135 creates the need to also increase the size of the seat rail 118 which supports the rear fender 135. That is, in order to improve support rigidity, one approach is to increase the size of an upper pipe 118a and a lower pipe 118b, or to position further downward a connecting portion 120 of the lower pipe 118b that connects to the main frame 117, whereby support rigidity is ensured. In this case, the increased size of the rear portion of the motorcycle, inclusive of a body cover 113 which is situated to the side of the seat rail 118, is a concern. Also, it is difficult to simply extend rearward the fender 133 which is attached to a rear arm 108, with the aim of preventing mud splatter. This is because the fender 133 moves up and down together with the rear arm 108 and the rear wheel 109, and if the fender 133 is extended rearward, the effects of vibration on the fender 133 are considerable.
Thus, there is a difficulty associated with concomitantly inhibiting mud splatter from the rear wheel, inhibiting vibration of the rear fender, and inhibiting an increased size of the rear portion of the motorcycle.